Pipe hanger



1959 w. L. CAMERON 2,900,155

PIPE HANGER Filed Oct. 3, 1955 "sag" 1- Fig 3 JJJ 4- 'INVENTOR WILLIAM L. CAMERON A ATTORNEY United States Patent PIPE HANGER William L. Cameron, Detroit, Mich.

Application October 3, 1955, Serial No. 537,993

Claims. (Cl. 248-71) This invention relates to pipe hangers serving to mount fluid-conducting pipes on floor joists or the like. In mounting such pipes, it is well known that consideration must be given to their temperature-induced expansion and contraction and to their tendency to vibrate responsive to a flow of water therein.

An object of the invention is to inexpensively form a pipe hanger of wire or the like and to so fashion such hanger that it may clamp a pipe more firmly than prior hangers, preliminary to attachment of the hanger to a joist.

Another object is to provide a wire pipe hanger of a U type adapted to straddle a pipe and apply opposed clamping pressures laterally thereto, and to increase the clamping efficiency of such hanger by extending a loop from one of the hanger arms diagonally to a plane determined by such arms to firmly engage the top face of the pipe and thus resist up and down vibration.

Another object is to employ said loop as a spacer to predeterminedly position a pipe downwardly from a joist while affording a slight up and down response of the pipe to expansion and contraction.

Another object is to facilitate the alignment of a series of hangers engaging a straight length of pipe by similarly forming such hangers with spacer portions for upwardly seating against the bottom edge of a joist.

These and various other objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of my improved hanger, as initially fashioned.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the hanger refas-hioned to support and apply clamping pressure to a pipe, and further showing a joist mounting the hanger.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the construction appearing in Fig. 2, showing the joist in cross section.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, showing the pipe and its supporting hanger.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a slightly modified hanger.

In these views, the reference character 1 designates a floor joist, and 2 a pipe carried horizontally upon and beneath such joist. For water pipes, copper is now extensively used, but my improved hanger is applicable to pipes of any material. The hanger consists of a length of wire of any desired cross sectional form, initially bent to an approximate V shape so as to form a pair of substantially equal divergent coplanar arms 3 and 3a, integrally interconnected at their lower ends by an arcuate seating member 4 adapted to snugly receive the pipe 2. One of said arms, as 3, is integrally formed with a loop 5 of an approximate U-shape having an upper and a lower span in close proximity to the seating member 4, and extending diagonally to the plane established by the arms at a material divergency to such plane. The initial angle between the arms preferably approximates forty-five degrees (Fig. 1), being such that a pipe 2 may readily pass the loop 5 to engagethe seating member 4. Divergency of said loop to the plane established by the arms 'ice 7 3 and 3a is preferably about sixty degrees. The lower span of said loop preferably has an elliptic curvature such that in bending the arms to parallelism, as per Fig. 2, said span may bear throughout its length on the pipe. The length of the loop is such that its closed end substantially occupies the Vertical axial plane of the pipe and its seat 4, as per Fig. 2, when the arms 3 and 3a are parallel. The upper end portions 6 of the arms are similarly bent transversely to the plane determined by the arms and are terminally pointed to facilitate driving them into ajoist as per Fig. 3. Atthe juncture of the portions 6 with the arms 3 and 3a,- the latter are reinforced by slight humps 6a extending reversely to said portions to receive hammer blows. This assures a transmission of impact from a hammer to the portions 6 without a material tendency to bend the arms. For a reason whichv'vill presently appear, it is preferred to extend the loop 5 and the portions 6 to the same side of the plane determined by the arms.

In applying the described hanger to a pipe, the latter is first seated between the arms, as divulged in Fig. 1. The arms are then bent toward each other and thus established in at least approximate parallelism, a considerable clamping pressure being thus applied to opposite sides of the pipe. Such bending forces the loop 5 above and against the pipe, the lower span of the loop elliptically embracing the pipe. In thus clamping the pipe, the loop is preferably sprung slightly upward to increase its downwardly acting clamping pressure. Finally the hanger is disposed with the upper span of its loop upwardly engaging the bottom edge of the joist 1 and the portions 6 are then driven into the joist.

By thus forming and applying the hanger, the grip thereof on the pipe is greatly increased as compared to prior wire constructions which apply clamping pressure merely to points at or adjacent to opposite sides of the pipe. Also the pipe is gripped firmly at top and bottom as Well as at its sides, so that it may not vibrate up and down, as in certain prior constructions, now common. Also the loop serves as a spacer between the joist and pipe, so that a workman has no difliculty in maintaining the same spacing between a joist and pipe at van'ous points of hanger installation. Also the loop 5 will spring enough to take care of any upward thrust resulting from expansion, safeguarding the joist from undue stress responsive to such expansion. In resisting vibration and affording expansion as described, the improved hanger will largely eliminate annoying noises heretofore resulting from pipe installations and particularly those conducting water.

The modification illustrated by Fig. 5 conforms to that shown in the other views, except that the loop 5' has its closed end horizontally disposed rather than vertically.

In either illustrated form, the feature of constructing the complete hanger from a single length of wire with no problem of assembly is of evident importance in minimizing production cost.

What I claim is:

1. A pipe hanger comprising a length of wire-like material bent to form a pair of divergent arms extending integrally upward from an arcuate seat for a pipe and flexible toward each other substantially in a common plane to oppositely engage such pipe, one of said arms forming a loop of approximate U-shape in close proximity to said arcuate seat and projecting diagonally to and at a material lateral divergency from said plane to engage above a pipe occupying said seat when the arms are swung toward each other, the upper ends of said arms being bent transversely to said plane for mounting the hanger on a support and said loop having a closed end disposable substantially in the vertical plane determined by the axis of arcuate curvature of said seat by flexure of said arms toward each other.

3 2. A pipe hanger as set forth in claim 1, said bent upper ends extending to the same side of said plane as said loop.

3. A pipe hanger as set forth in claim 1, said loop having a substantially straight upper span to engage the bottom face of a joist' and having'a lower span formed with a substantially elliptic curvature to bear both rdownwardly and laterally on the pipe. 7 r

4. A pipe hanger comprising a length of wire-like material bent to form a pair of divergent and substantially coplanar arms extending integrally upward from an arcuate' seat for a pipe and flexible toward each other to oppositely engage such pipe, the upper ends of the arms being bent to one side of the plane of the arms for insertion in a support for the hanger, and one of the arms beingintegrally formed with a spacer downwardly spaced from said ben't upper ends and projecting materially to said side of the plane of the arms to engage a bottom face of said support and thus predetermine the downward spacing of said arcuate seat from such support.

5. A pipe hanger comprising a length of wire-like material bent to form a pair of divergent arms extending integrally upward from an arcuate seat for a pipe and flexible toward each other substantially in a common plane to oppositely engage such pipe, one of said arms being formed, substantially at its juncture with said seat, with a loop of approximate U shape and hence having a closed end, such loop projecting from said arm diagonally and at a material divergency to said plane, such loop having a lower span curved about the axis of said arcuate seat to swing about said axis upon moving said arms to substantial parallelism, whereby said closed end may assume a position substantially in the vertical plane estab lished by the axis of the arcuate seat to firmly grip a pipe between said loop and seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Campbell Oct. 11, 1955 

